Apparatus for conditioning shoe parts



Oct. 25, 1932. F. E. TOOTHAKER 1,834,921

APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING SHOE PARTS Filed March 22, 1929 Patented Get. 25, 1932 STATES i UMTE retail 1 E. TOOTHAKER, OF SVIAIZIPSCOTT,MASSAOHUSETTS; ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE Y IIIACHINEBY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING SHOE PARTS Application filed March 22, 1829. Serial No. 349,205.

This invention relates to an apparatus for conditioning shoe parts and is herein illustrated as embodied in an apparatus for conditioning and maintaining in a pliable, workable state the stiffening elements used, for example, in the toe portions of shoes.

In the manufacture of shoes it is customary to incorporate stiffeners in certain portions of the uppers thereof, in order that the shape and appearance of the shoe shall be preserved while it is being worn. A good example of such a stiffener is afforded 'by the well-known box toe, which is incorporated in the toe portion of the upper of a shoe. A stiffener of this type may comprise a suitably shaped piece of fabric impregnated with celluloid or some other comparatively hard and resilient substance which is soluble in a volatile solvent such, for example, as a mixture of alcohol and acetone. When such a stiffener is to be incorporated in a shoe it is first'dipped in the solvent to render it limp and pliable and is then placed in the toe portion of the shoe upper. The upper, with the stiffener, is pulled over a last and is afterward subjected to a lasting operation, at the completion of which the stiffener has been conformed closely to the toe portion of the last. The last is kept in the shoe until the volatile solvent has evaporated so that in the finished shoe the molded stiffener has become hard and resilient.

lVhen only afew hours time elapses between the pulling-over and the lasting operations the stiffener remains sufficiently pliable to permit the toe portion of the shoe to be lasted readily but when, as occurs in some factories, the pulled-over shoe is allowed to stand over night, or longer, before it is lasted, sufficient evaporation of the solvent occurs to permitthe stiffenerto harden so that it cannot be properly conformed to the toe portion of the last.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus by the use of which a shoe part may be conditioned and kept in such a degree of softness and pliability as greatly to facilitate its close conformation to the shape of the last when that portion of the shoe in which the part corporated is lasted. With this object in View, the invention provides an apparatus comprisinga container is in having a chamber into which the portion of A a shoe carying a part to be conditioned may be introduced and which chamber, when it is occupied by said portion of a shoe, will be substantially air-tight. ener softened with a volatile solvent the eX- clusion of the atmospheric air from the softened stifiener will greatly retard the evapora tion of the solvent and, inasmuch as the escape of the vapor of the solvent will be prevented, the stiffener will be kept in an atmosphere of such vapor with the result that it will be conditioned and maintained in a state of temper most suitable to facilitate its In the case of a stifi v being molded to the shape of the last. When my improved apparatus is used it is no longer necessary to last the shoe promptly after it is pulled-overand the arrangement of a convenient schedule of shoe factory operations may be facilitated.

In the illustrated apparatus the openingv tion and insuring that it will be air-tight. 7

These and other features of the invention, including certain details of construction and combinations of parts, will be more fully explained in the following description, to be read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which -Fig. 1 shows one embodiment of the invention in side elevation, with portions broken away to reveal the internal structure and with the toe portion of a shoe in position for treatment;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view, with a portion broken away, of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a modified form of the invention; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a further modification.

In the form of the in ention illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, 10 indicates a bulb-shaped hollow body which may be made of rubber sullh ciently soft to conform easily to the t e portion of a pulled-over shoe just back of the toe cap, ribs 12 upon the outside of said body portion serving to stiffen it sui'liciently to make it self-sustaining when there is no shoe in it. Other ribs l l provide an annular groove 16 adapted to co-operate with a ring 18 carried by a bracket 20 arising from a base 22, by whichthe device as a whole is supported.

The hollow body 10 constitutes a container providingan internal chamber 2% adap to receivethe toe portion of a shoe when has been pulled-over secured to a last 26. and having a somewhat res "ted neck portion 28 of such a size as to r hug tightly that portion of the saoe which lies just back of the toe cap.

For use with a welt shoe, the insole 30 of which has an upright lip or rib 82, shown in Fig. 1, there is provided an inwardly e2;- tendingflange adapted to engage the insole just insideof said rib, in order to aid in the exclusion of air from the chamber as.

In using the apparatus, the toe portion of a shoe in which a softened stiffener 36 has been incorporated, and which toe portion has been 'pulled over and secured to the last 26, is pushed through the restricted neck portion 28 of the'device until the parts are in substantially the relation ustrated in Fig. 1. Normally the shoe receiving opening too small to receive a shoe for which the device is adapted but the act of inserting the shoe in the manner just described stretches the yielding material of the neck portion 28, and its elasticity is such as to cause it to hug the shoe tightly enough to seal the joint between the shoe and the container and thus to prevent any substantial amount of vapor from escaping from the chamber 2 or any substantial amount of air from entering the chamber while the toe portion of t e shoe is in it;

The softened stiffener 56 is now in a virtually air-tight chamber in which the evaporation of the softening solvein is very slow and which becomes so filled with the vapor of the solvent that the stiffener is conditioned and maintained in a. state of temper most suitable to facilitate its molded easily to the shape of the last when the toe portion of the'shoe is lasted. T he containing portion of the shoe may be left in the chamber 24 for a relatively long time without losing its softness and pliability, being removed only when it is desired to proceed with the lasting operation.

In the modified form of the invention ilin Fi 3 the container for the toe por tion of the shoe is shown as consisting of a tight box w iich may be, and in the illustrated device is, constructed entirely of rubber stiff enough to be self-sustaining, exthe front which is formed by a relative- I rubber sheet or diaphragm 38 i T a small opening slashed ardly, as shown 12, to allow the rubber to yield sufficiently to permit the toe portion of r e shoe to be pushed into the chainber within the box. The elasticity of the rubber will cause it to hug the shoe tightly around the opening e0, confining the solvent vapor preventing the entrance of air from the surrounding atmosphere.

In still another n'iodification, shown in i, the concitioning chamber 44 isenclosed by a. tight box 46, and the opening 418 for the reception of the shoe is formed in arubber diaphragm 50, the rim 52 of=which is clamped at inst the flange 54 of a ring-56 l a sleeve 58 having threaded engagement 'ith the ring. The ring carrying the rubber diaphragm is, in turn, screwed into a circular, threaded. openin in the front of the box A plurality or conditioning chamber may be arranged side by side in a single structure, as indicated in Fig. 4:, but each hamber should be self-contained and sepr arate from the others. Preferably, in all forms of the invention, each conditioning chamber will be only slightly larger than the ortion of the shoe which it is adapted to reeive, and the yielding, elastic material around the opening through which the work introduced will form, as nearly as possible, an air-tight seal with the work.

It will be understood that the invention herein disclosed is capable of embodiment in a variety of specific forms other than those herein illustrated and that i s scope is lim ited only confined in the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An apparatus for conditioning shoe parts comprising a container constructed en tirely of rubber and provided witha chamber havin an opening through which a portion of a shoe may be introduced but being otherwise substantially air-tight, said open being surrounded by yielding, elastic rial adapted to form with the shoea substantially air-tight seal.

2. lltll apparatus for conditioning shoe parts comprising a self-sustainingcontainer constructed entirely of rubber, said container having an openingnormally smaller. than the cross section of a portioirof a shoe'to be introduced throughit, the rubber surrounding the opening being sufficiently yielding and elastic to permit the introduction of the shoe portion and to formwith the shoe a substantially air-tight seal.

3. An apparatus for conditioning shoe parts, comprising a bulb-shaped container having a resilient neck portion through which the portion of a shoe carrying the part to be conditioned may be introduced while the remaining portion of the shoe extends outside of said container, the neck portion of said container being adapted to form with the shoe a substantially air-tight seal, and the interior of said container, when said container is occupied by said portion of the shoe, providing a substantially air-tight chamber.

4. An apparatus for conditioning box toes which have been incorporated in shoes, comprising a container having a chamber into which the toe portion of a shoe may be introduced while the remaining portion of the shoe extends outside of said chamber, said chamber being defined, in part, by a flange extending within said container and adapted to engage the insole of the shoe, and said chamber being, when occupied by the toe portion of a shoe, substantially airtight.

5. An apparatus for conditioning shoe parts, comprising a bulb-shaped container having a neck portion composed of rubber,

said container having through the neck portion thereof an opening normally smaller than the cross-section of a portion of a shoe to be introduced through it, the rubber surrounding the opening being sufficiently yielding to permit the introduction of the shoe portion and to form with the shoe a substantially air-tight seal.

6. An apparatus for conditioning shoe parts, comprising a bulb-shaped container having through the neck portion thereof an opening normally smaller than the crosssection of the toe portion of a shoe, said container being constructed entirely of rub ber sufliciently yielding to permit the introduction of the said shoe portion and to form with the shoe a substantially air-tight seal, and said container having stiffening ribs formed upon its exterior to render it self supporting when there is no shoe in it.

7 Apparatus for preventing hardening of a toe stiffener containing a volatile solvent and incorporated in a partly finished shoe by retarding the evaporation of the solvent and holding in contact with the toe portion of the shoe such solvent vapor as may evaporate, said apparatus comprising a container having a chamber to receive the toe portion of the shoe, the material of the walls of the chamber being impervious to air, and one wall of said chamber being provided with an opening completely encircled by a rim of of resilient material of a size such that the 1 forepart of a shoe thrust into the opening having a chamber to receive the toe portion of the shoe, the material of the walls of the chamber being impervious to air, and one wall of said chamber being provided with an opening completely encircled by a rim of rubber of a size such that the forepart of a shoe thrust into the opening forms with the rim of the opening an air-tight seal.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

' FRED E. TOOTHAKER. 

